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Contrary to reports, the Basic Income Experiment in Finland will continue until the end of 2018

There have been incorrect reports in the media about the Finnish experimental study on a Universal Basic Income. The experiment will run until the end of 2018 as planned.

Many international media-outlets have published stories alleging that Finland is going to discontinue its basic income experiment. This information is incorrect.

“The experiment is proceeding according to plan and will continue until the end of 2018”, says Professor Olli Kangas, the leader of the research team at Kela (Social Insurance Institution of Finland).

There are currently no plans to continue or expand the experiment after 2018.

The effects will be studied after the experiment has ended

The employment effects across the whole experiment will be available by the end of 2019 or at the beginning of 2020.

“The effects of the experiment will not be published while the experiment is in progress, because a public discussion of the results could influence the behaviour of the test and control groups. That would lead to skewed results”, Kangas says.

The basic income experiment was launched in January 2017. During the experiment, the 2,000 participants are receiving a EUR 560 monthly basic income payment, which is independent of any other income they may have and not conditional on undertaking an active search for employment.

The purpose of the experiment is to study the effect of increasing cash incentives for work and simplifying the social security system on the employment rate of the study participants. The study will also look at the well-being of the participants and their experiences when communicating and conducting business with the authorities.